A new incentive to go solar in the Philadelphia area

Is going solar proving too daunting - with too many installers to choose from, reliability hard to judge, and prices all over the place?

For Philadelphia-area homeowners, there's an alternative to going it alone, starting Monday.

Consider it matchmaking for the solar-inhibited - with a chance to save some money.

But you'll have to hurry. There's an element of speed-dating involved.

The solar-inclined have three months to sign up for a 15 percent discount on a system and free educational advice through the latest phase of a program being rolled out across the country by One Block Off the Grid, a for-profit San Francisco broker.

The company, more commonly known as 1BOG, launched a similar initiative in South Jersey last month.

The discount is before other cost breaks are factored in, such as state grants and the 30 percent federal tax credit available on purchases of solar systems.

In each of the 16 markets where 1BOG is offering its educational-brokering program, it has secured a group rate from a solar company it has selected to do the installation work for program participants. For Pennsylvania, it has chosen Mercury Solar Systems L.L.C., which bought Eos Energy Solutions L.L.C., of Philadelphia, this year. For South Jersey, 1BOG has picked Freehold, N.J.-based Trinity Solar. Those companies must pay a referral fee of 25 cents per watt installed to 1BOG upon signing contracts with customers.

Before selecting Mercury and Trinity, 1BOG spent about six weeks vetting installers serving Pennsylvania and New Jersey, evaluating their installation practices, warranties, and financial stability, said Dave Llorens, 1BOG's chief executive officer. Typically, requests for proposals are sent to the top 10 installers in a region based on volume, Llorens said.

Llorens, an electrical engineer, founded 1BOG in late 2008, motivated by the customer confusion and reluctance he often encountered while working in the solar industry.

"You've got this hugely complex purchase process, and hugely complex rebates, incentives, and technology," Llorens said in an interview Wednesday.

Llorens said each 1BOG participant was assigned a "solar adviser," who checks out their roof through satellite map technology and explains the benefits of the program, the expected return on investment, and the financial obligations.